No Women's Day For Her...
Standing on the second floor of a building
Looking out of the window,
On a lazy Sunday evening in downtown Mhow
I saw a man shouting at his wife.
They were standing by the roadside -
The couple and two daughters not yet in their teens,
A younger son and a dog which looked like a pomeranian
Stood some distance away.
He walked away from them and then came back,
I was shocked to see him hit his wife on the head
She took it quietly.
The daughters didn't panic either
They may have seen worse at home.
He did this four or five times,
He would walk away and then come back
And manhandle her.
He looked like a wasted human being,
Most probably a drunkard,
She was dignified in her poverty
Dignified inspite of the abuse
that was being directed at her.
As she walked away with her daughters,
the son and dog a few feet behind,
the husband turned and followed them.
He was walking at a fast pace
As if he had to catch up with them
And rain a few more blows on her.
Soon they were out of sight.
I heaved a sigh of relief.
To not see something ugly
is such a relief.
I asked myself whether I would have rushed down
If he had been more violent with her.
But I was scared that he would have beat her even more
if I had gone and spoken to him.
The violence I saw bubbles up inside me
in a strange way.
I am not a totally non violent person
But I was shaken on seeing something
I have presumed goes on in most bedrooms.
Maybe if I had been married
My wife too would have been the target of
my frustrated yelling.
All I can do today is write a few lines of verse
And pray that the children don't see their mother getting
beaten up any more.
Looking out of the window,
On a lazy Sunday evening in downtown Mhow
I saw a man shouting at his wife.
They were standing by the roadside -
The couple and two daughters not yet in their teens,
A younger son and a dog which looked like a pomeranian
Stood some distance away.
He walked away from them and then came back,
I was shocked to see him hit his wife on the head
She took it quietly.
The daughters didn't panic either
They may have seen worse at home.
He did this four or five times,
He would walk away and then come back
And manhandle her.
He looked like a wasted human being,
Most probably a drunkard,
She was dignified in her poverty
Dignified inspite of the abuse
that was being directed at her.
As she walked away with her daughters,
the son and dog a few feet behind,
the husband turned and followed them.
He was walking at a fast pace
As if he had to catch up with them
And rain a few more blows on her.
Soon they were out of sight.
I heaved a sigh of relief.
To not see something ugly
is such a relief.
I asked myself whether I would have rushed down
If he had been more violent with her.
But I was scared that he would have beat her even more
if I had gone and spoken to him.
The violence I saw bubbles up inside me
in a strange way.
I am not a totally non violent person
But I was shaken on seeing something
I have presumed goes on in most bedrooms.
Maybe if I had been married
My wife too would have been the target of
my frustrated yelling.
All I can do today is write a few lines of verse
And pray that the children don't see their mother getting
beaten up any more.
© Dev Kumar Vasudevan., all rights reserved.
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